Congress advances resolution to counteract Biden-Harris ban on private gun sales

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been ludicrously touting her supposed “pro-gun” credentials, part of her overall strategy to appear more moderate to critical swing state voters just long enough to get elected. The media has predictably played along, breathlessly reporting that Harris herself is a gun owner. Just last week, the vice president even told Oprah Winfrey in a televised appearance, “If anybody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.” That is undoubtedly true, as Harris is protected at all times at the taxpayers’ expense by U.S. Secret Service Agents.

Meanwhile, what Harris is actually doing with the authority she already has is working against the interests of law-abiding gun owners, including as the head of the White House’s anti-gun “Office of Gun Violence Prevention.” Fortunately, pro-gun members of Congress recently advanced a measure to counteract one of the Biden-Harris administration’s most overreaching anti-gun initiatives.

Kamala Harris on video: Cops should conduct home inspections on gun owners

The initiative in question essentially purported to ban a wide range of private firearm sales, most occurring between law-abiding people for law-abiding purposes. It was enacted by the ATF via rulemaking, supposedly to implement provisions of the infamous Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a sprawling gun control bill Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. As bad as that bill was, it did not ban private firearm transactions, and the NRA is challenging the administration’s assertions to the contrary in federal court.

Members of Congress have been weighing in against the ATF’s rule as well. Last Thursday, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee advanced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval (H.J. Res. 144), introduced by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA). The resolution would nullify ATF’s unauthorized private sales rule and prevent any similar rule from being enacted. As Rep. Clyde explained:

Ultimately, the goal of the Biden-Harris Administration’s universal background check rule is to create a nationwide firearms registry, which I’ve long warned will eventually lead to gun confiscation. It’s imperative that the House promptly passes my critical legislation to nullify the ATF’s rule in order to protect Americans’ Second Amendment liberties.

We couldn’t agree more. We have been reporting on Kamala Harris’ record of support for firearm confiscation, which is even more troubling with the recent re-emergence of proof that she considers the government empowered to invade the “sanctity” of a gun owner’s “locked home” for enforcement purposes. Funneling person-to-person firearm transactions through the process statutorily required for sales by license dealers ensures all guns are “on paper” and therefore more vulnerable to government schemes like the mandatory “buybacks” Harris has supported for America’s most popular rifle, the AR-15.

Curiously, Harris recently spoke of the need to close the so-called “gun show loophole” in response to tough questioning at an event held by the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia, without mentioning her administration’s supposed efforts to do just that through the ATF’s rulemaking.

The questioner correctly pointed out that handguns, not assault weapons, are involved in the highest percentage of firearm-related homicides occurring in America’s major cities. Nevertheless, as was pointed out to Harris, she has focused her efforts on so-called “assault weapons,” which are involved in far fewer, if often much more high-profile, crimes.

How, the questioner wanted to know, would Harris address this much more common but largely ignored violence occurring with handguns in urban communities?

Harris appeared flustered and unprepared for the question, launching into what sounded like a rote recital of talking points about the supposed “gun show loophole.” “I myself,” she said, “protested at a gun show …”

Her interviewer, obviously more acquainted with the facts, pressed Harris on the fact that the handguns involved in this type of violence were mostly illegally obtained. Indeed, this is true as well, with the government’s own data showing that gun shows are not a significant source of crime guns and that criminals already intentionally navigate around the background check system with strategies like straw purchases, thefts, and black-market trading of guns. Unable to effectively or squarely answer the question, Harris resorted to platitudes about the need to take “gun violence seriously” and to formulate a “comprehensive” approach to addressing it.

The clear takeaway from the interview is that Harris — for the supposedly key role she plays in the administration’s gun control efforts — is largely ignorant of the scope of the regulations promulgated by the administration.

It is telling that, with the myriad of problems facing America as the election approaches, guns occupy such a prominent role in the Harris-Walz campaign strategy. This, after all, is where Harris’s own record is arguably the most radical, and where her future objectives pervasively intrude into the rights of law-abiding Americans. Thus, we see the clownish spectacle of Harris trying to appear tough on “gun violence” with her dedicated supporters and donors, while also trying to rehabilitate her image on the issue with the American public at large, where more than half of households already own guns.

Kamala Harris now speaks with a forked tongue on guns, as she believes that is necessary to become president. As her own record shows, however, she cannot be trusted to respect Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

© 2024 National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action. This may be reproduced. This may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.

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Lee Williams is chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation's Investigative Journalism Project. Republished with permission.